Forget the fact that she comes from a country where a leisurely lunch is considered a cultural birthright. These days, when Marianne Fabre-Lanvin, a native of France now living in New York, heads out for her midday “meal,” she’s more likely thinking in terms of a haircut, facial or manicure — or better yet, all three — than steak frites and a glass of Bordeaux.

“I have so little time for myself to do the things that are necessary,” says Fabre-Lanvin, executive director of the U.S. office of Sud de France, a trade group that promotes the southern France region.

And sure enough, Fabre-Lanvin is a regular at New York’s Julien Farel Restore Salon & Spa, a high-end house of beauty that specializes in “Power Hour” lunchtime sessions (starting at $155) that combine multiple services, all with the busy executive in mind. If time is really of the essence, the Farel salon will also see to providing a quick lunch during the appointment: After all, salon customers still need to eat, the Farel staff notes.

Or do they? America has become a country that has turned lunchtime into errand or work time — and a rushed one at that. A recent survey by OfficeTeam, a staffing agency, found that 48% of employees say their typical lunch break is 30 minutes or less. And another survey of the general workforce by office-supply giant Staples
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found that 19% of employees say they don’t break for lunch at all.

Not unexpectedly, restaurants, especially higher-end, sit-down eateries that helped make the three-martini lunch a mainstay a few decades ago, are the ones feeling the pinch. Some report declines of 20% or more in lunchtime sales over the last few years. Adding insult to injury: The Great Recession prompted a cutback in personal and corporate spending, restaurant executives say. “The big lunches on business accounts are a thing of the past,” says Jean Goutal, who runs Le Colonial, an upscale French-Vietnamese restaurant in New York.

At the same time, shifts in lunch-hour habits and behaviors have benefited many businesses. Indeed, salons and spas are seeing plenty of customers like Fabre-Lanvin who are forsaking that leisurely lunch so they can tend to life’s multitude of chores. And the “Power Hour” concept of piling on treatments only ups the appeal of a midday trip to the beauty parlor, explains salon owner Julien Farel. “People want more in less time,” he says. (The concept isn’t limited to women, either: Farel has express packages for men, as do other salons.)

Another new wrinkle — or anti-wrinkle — to the trend: specialty salons that focus on one area of service, but in super-speedy fashion. Consider how Lydia Sarfati, founder of the Repêchage skin-care line, has been behind “Facial Bars” that offer “age-defying treatments” in 30 minutes or less. Sarfati has overseen the opening of more than 40 such bars nationwide and plans to launch another 250 in the coming year. The bars are “the future of the skin-care industry,” she has written.

Of course, as much as the lunchtime squeeze is hurting high-end eateries, it’s actually boosting the bottom line of other restaurants and food-service providers — namely, those that can offer a quick bite. For example, grocers have seen their lunchtime business for prepared food (think salads and sandwiches) jump by 28% since 2008, according to market researcher NPD Group. (By contrast, there’s been only a 2% uptick in prepared food sales for breakfast during that same time.)

The boom in lunch-on-the-go has also been one of the major drivers in the rise of fast-casual restaurants like Chipotle
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and Panera
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, which are seen as a quality alternative to the fast-food chains that pioneered the speedy midday meal. (The fast-casual category grew by 13% in 2012, according to the most recent data from Technomic, a research firm that tracks the restaurant industry.) In other words, fast-casual is like full-service dining without the hour-plus commitment. The category “exists today because it does a better job at lunch than full-service,” says Darren Tristano, a Technomic executive vice president.

Which is not to say full-service restaurants are giving up all hope. Many are trying to level the lunchtime playing field by offering their own speedier options. A case in point: Reserve Cut, a steakhouse in New York’s financial district, now has a “$40 @ 40” lunch deal — a three-course midday meal for $40 that’s served within a “guaranteed” time frame of 40 minutes. “It’s brought in a lot of business,” says Reserve Cut general manager Rick Bruner.

Additionally, some high-end restaurants are starting to offer lunchtime delivery service. Such is the case at Le Colonial, the French-Vietnamese eatery in New York. Proprietor Goutal says he’s happy to do it if it will help his business regain some lost midday revenue. But the French native does express a certain sadness that lunch is losing its place in the culture as a necessary respite — not just in the U.S., but even in France. It goes contrary to everything he was taught about food and work.

“People are expected to produce so much that they forget to live,” he says.

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